The other day we posted a picture of some old school fuses. Sticking with the electrical theme, here’s another situation we see periodically. Lights that you turn on and off by plugging in an extension cord. This isn’t the preferred way to control your permanent overhead lighting, and will be flagged by a home inspector every time.

A couple things jump out in this example…

First, each of the cords is clearly labeled – which is great. There’s one for the main level and basement, and another for the lights in the loft of this unfinished outbuilding. Everyone should take the time to label the the circuits in their electrical system to make working with them easier in the future.

The other interesting thing here is that the electrical system has been updated with a GFCI outlet like you see in bathrooms and outdoors. They couldn’t have taken a couple extra minutes to run proper wires and hook them up to two switches?

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on Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 at 9:25 am and is filed under Building Permits, Buying, Home Maintenance.
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Amy and Kyle Bergquist are full-time residential real estate agents in Central Connecticut.
They represent buyers and sellers of single-family homes, condominiums, and multi-family properties
in most of the communities in Hartford County. Rather than being salespeople in the traditional
sense, they think of themselves more as analysts and advisors. Ultimately the goal is to get their
clients the best results possible for their situation - not convince them to do a deal.